18 replies to this topic

[InvaderNorbert]

From SNPP:

Homer wants to be cooler, so he starts hanging out with his "trendy" neighbors, but Marge doesn't approve of their parenting methods, and Bart considers their son too pretentious

This is the "Portlandia" episode, featuring Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Patton Oswalt, and The Decemberists. I really freaking hope they move into George Bush/Gerald Ford's former house across the street!

ETA: Loved the signs in the sexual harassment seminar. "Let's try insensitivity!"

Heh, so Fred Armisen owns the Simpsons-verse version of Voodoo Donuts. Loved the Russian Nesting Donut. And his family moves into Ruth Power's former house. Patton Oswalt did a great job as T-Rex, and hell, they completely nailed pretentiousness. I honestly don't know if wanting to smack him for being a pretentious prick was a good thing or not.

Of course Bart and Lisa would be shocked that not owning a tv would even be an option, I loved that so much. The fact that it impacted the plot was a good touch.

Loved the shout-out to the Onion, and then the dig at the AV Club. (The AV Club, of course, ate this up)

Homer's goatee looks exactly like his head hair. Such a great touch. Freaking loved that scared, awkward clapping the family made when Homer ripped off his goatee.

According to Fred, Flanders is like a dad in a Wes Anderson movie. This makes too much sense.

Hipsters taking over Springfield was funny, if not horrifying. The tire fire turned into a farmer's market! Those bastards. Although I do love that Moe's stayed exactly the same because hipsters love the dank.

Really liked the Burns bit at the end with the Artisinal Power Plant. I need to watch that again, that should've been either longer or its own episode.

ETA II: All in all, the episode was enjoyable, but most of the hipster jokes seemed too obvious, especially since Portlandia itself made it into an art form.

Edited by InvaderNorbert, Dec 9, 2012 @ 10:38 PM.

[McKay]

King of the Hill did it better.

That aside, this episode did make me laugh. I've only seen a few episodes of Portlandia, but I live about ten minutes outside of Brooklyn, so I don't need to get the precise references. The sad thing? They weren't really exaggerating hipsters at all. The knitting, the breastfeeding 'til college, the kids not being allowed to do things aimed at kids...yeah, I've met these people. And I can't stand them. Poor Homer. It's really not worth it to get in with them.

[dougfir]

I live in (suburban) Portland, and yeah, both this and Portlandia more or less nail it. Loved the callout to Pabst Blue Ribbon at Moe's.

How I wish Voodoo Donuts offered a Russian Nesting Donut.

[Pin]

A little confused as to why Homer, Marge, and Bart were seemingly the only three who didn't like the hipster takeover, but everyone else in Springfield did.

[Phoenix B]

Homer's age has always bugged me. He had Bart just after high school, so how could he be mistaken for a grandfather only ten years later?

Anyways, good episode. I love Portlandia so the guest stars and topic I found entertaining. At least in Springfield you don't have to wait in line half an hour for a hipster donut.

The end credits was a bit above my head but I loved it all the same.

[JTMacc99]

Homer's age has always bugged me. He had Bart just after high school, so how could he be mistaken for a grandfather only ten years later?

I don't think the show has said that Homer and Marge had Bart right out of high school. If I remember correctly, Homer had been stuck in a a dead end job for an unspecified amount of time (which is something around 8 years, as I think Homer is 36 years-old) before Marge got pregnant and he ended up at the power plant.

Having said that, it's kind of irrelevant as time doesn't travel in a straight line on The Simpsons. For example, just a couple weeks ago the town plowed the tire fire into the sinkhole. This week the still above ground tire fire was turned into a farmers market.

I also really liked the Moe's scene. It started off funny with Homer all annoyed and heading towards Moe which he assumed would still be the same, although probably not with where this is heading. Heh. And the way Moe just rolled with it, "They like everything here, even the rats", cracked me up.

[Earl Camembert]

"They like everything here, even the rats"...

And even offered them some monchego cheese.

Not an uproarious episode, but I laughed. For sure, Mr. Burns' old-timey nuclear physics never ceases to amuse. And I loved the bit about hipsters loving old stuff, except for their electronics ("Siri, where can I buy spats?").

Would have loved to have seen more of the sexual harassment training, if only to learn Carl's other slang terms for breasts ("thunderbags" is a promising start).

(One question: when the Decemberists were introduced to the class as the school's new music teachers, they asked the kids "who wants to hear a song about" two totally depressing subjects - what were they?)

Edited by Earl Camembert, Dec 10, 2012 @ 10:07 AM.

[Sarcastico]

Another question: either earlier this season, or late last season, there was a scene where Marge said something to Homer about the hipsters, and he replied, "Actually, Marge, we've been getting along a lot better lately." What's the background there?

[Kalidah]

(One question: when the Decemberists were introduced to the class as the school's new music teachers, they asked the kids "who wants to hear a song about" two totally depressing subjects - what were they?)

Press gangs and infanticide.

[InvaderNorbert]

Seeing the kids cheer for that just cracked me up so much.

Over the past day, something clicked in my mind: The more I thought about it, the more I think T-Rex (Patton's character) was more of a nickname. The dad was named Terrence, and most likely named the son after himself, then gave him a "cool" nickname which stuck.

Edited by InvaderNorbert, Dec 11, 2012 @ 12:56 AM.

[Phoenix B]

Over the past day, something clicked in my mind: The more I thought about it, the more I think T-Rex (Patton's character) was more of a nickname. The dad was named Terrence, and most likely named the son after himself, then gave him a "cool" nickname which stuck.

At one point the mother called him Tyrannosaurus so I think his full name would be Tyrannosaurus Rex.

[Shermie]

Over the past day, something clicked in my mind: The more I thought about it, the more I think T-Rex (Patton's character) was more of a nickname. The dad was named Terrence, and most likely named the son after himself, then gave him a "cool" nickname which stuck.

Why would you think that? As mentioned above, his full name was Tyrannosaurus. Hipsters love stupid names for their kids.

I loved the whole episode, because I love anything that mocks hipsters for their hipsterness.

Homer's age has always bugged me. He had Bart just after high school, so how could he be mistaken for a grandfather only ten years later?

As pointed out, time is fluid on this show; there's not a lot of "canon" (a hipster word, if there ever was). But Homer is fat, bald and unkempt, so it's easy to mistake him as older since he's not keeping himself youthful-looking like the hipster dad.

time doesn't travel in a straight line on The Simpsons. For example, just a couple weeks ago the town plowed the tire fire into the sinkhole. This week the still above ground tire fire was turned into a farmers market.

So true. I'd just assume that Springfieldians are so incompetetent that the tire fire keeps restarting.

[JTMacc99]

I only remember the tire fire thing from a couple weeks ago because I thought that was pretty funny that they actually used their brains and incorporated a long-standing thing from the show in a new way. I was assuming that it was not the end of the tire fire, but a little piece of me was worried that it would stick.

[TVspectator]

I'd just assume that Springfieldians are so incompetetent that the tire fire keeps restarting.

I think that the up ground tire fire is a must have for the Springieldians. Because at the end of the episode where the Simpsons were living in the The Outlands and at the end of the episode, the whole town of Springfield moved to the Outlands; and I remember that Cletus relight the tire fire to replace the one they left behind in old Springfield.

[CChambers]

and I remember that Cletus relight the tire fire to replace the one they left behind in old Springfield.

I think that was Lenny.

[Kel Varnsen]

Homer's age has always bugged me. He had Bart just after high school, so how could he be mistaken for a grandfather only ten years later?

As was mentioned homer is in his late 30's. Although he is obese and has had multiple heart attacks. That plus the baldness would make anyone look older than they are.

I did like all the hipster jokes, even if some of them were obvious. I think the funniest was when the fire started is spread super fast since all the hipster kids toys were wooden.

[Phoenix B]

As was mentioned homer is in his late 30's. Although he is obese and has had multiple heart attacks. That plus the baldness would make anyone look older than they are.

I watched "I Married Marge" again and was surprised to hear Homer give his exact age of 24 in the flashback. So, nine months of pregnancy plus Bart's ten years of age, give or take a few months, and he should be 34 or 35 years old. Not very relevant but it's interesting to note for future reference, such as when he's mistaken for an old man in an episode. :/

[beadgirl]

That was his intended age when he was created, but the writers have aged him over the years because he looks and acts so old. There have been later references to his age being at least 38 (and maybe even older now?) in some episodes, none of which I can remember specifically at the moment.

[TVspectator]

Homer's age has always been vague (I mean if this show is going to last forever then none of the characters are really going to age) but they dropped hints and some jokes throughout the series. If I remember correctly, in the episode "We're on the Road to Nowhere" Home makes a remark that he is 36 and one snickerdoodle away from losing his foot. Although, I think that the writers feel that since they are ageing irl they should age Homer. Although, Grandpa's, Marge's, Bart's, Lisa's, and Maggie's ages hasn't really changed over the series so they had to redo the story of how Bart was born (since the early episodes pointed out that Homer knocked up Marge, right out of high school, and in the windmill from the miniature gold course).

Currently, I think Homer is supposed to be somewhere between the ages of 38-40 years old.